The Gospel Truth

The Attack of the CINOs

No, this is not about an old horror movie I found on cable.

It is about the belligerent, scandalous attitudes and policies of some of my fellow Catholics.

I believe they have poisoned the body politic with a venom worst than an army of scorpions.

I am talking about what my wife calls Catholics in Name Only.

The Republicans have their RINOs and now we have our CINOs.

The old term has been cafeteria Catholics, those who regard the individual teachings of the Church as they would food on a buffet line.

The sad fact is that virtually every Catholic in Congress is a CINO on the life issues.

By life issues, I am not talking broadly about the late Cardinal Bernardin’s seamless garment, which is probably the biggest single cause for this untenable situation with our Catholics in government.

I mean the big three–abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research.

The new dodge of Cinos is the freedom of conscience gambit that grew out of the turmoil in the wake of Vatican II nearly 50 years ago.

The latest to use this clever bit of verbal legerdemain was Senator Richard Durbin recent admissions.

This past month, at their Faith Media Roundtable, several US Senators shared their views on the intersection of religion, politics and much more.

Illinois Senator Durbin explained his strong support for abortion rights by relegating it to a matter of his personal conscience.

Gone seemed to be any pretense of his being pro-choice, that is personally oppsed but publicly unable to force his morality on Americans.

No, the  Senate Majority Whip, a practicing Catholic, has a new Bush to hide behind–his right to dissent from his Church’s traditional teachings.

I am always amazed at the verbal gymnastics that some people  in public life will go to hide the truth of their lives from the public and maybe from themselves.

The truth of Dick Durbin is that he can not face the fact that he has put his soul in jeopardy by following the political dictates of Machiavelli, instead of the teachings of Jesus Christ, as presented by the Catholic Church.

I say this without the presumption that Mr. Durbin is a lost soul, only that he is taking a serious chance with his most prized possession in supporting and advancing such an unmitigated evil in American society.

While there is breath in his body, there is always the hope that he will admit his public moral degradation and repent for all the harm his support has wreaked on the unborn, the most endangered members of our human species.

ONE MAN’S CONSCIENCE

I say all this because Durbin’s position and that of all other Catholics, such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former presidential candidate, John Kerry and several others, who have chosen to sit in his bark, which is not of Peter but of Satan.

All this being said, let me play the role of the Devil’s Advocate, a fitting analogy for my point.

I will allow the Senator his reliance on his conscience–how it was formed I have no idea since it is a such variance with the Church’s long and consistent teachings on life.

Perhaps he slept through most sermons that addressed the 5th Commandment—Thou Shalt Not Kill.

If Mr. Durbin is entitled to freedom of conscience, then other public figures should be allowed the same luxury.

This idea is self-evident in a society that coddles its criminals with all sorts of psychological excuses for some of the most heinous and brutal crimes under the sun.

Only Catholic priests and conservative figures, such as Mel Gibson are to be judged by traditional moral and legal standards.

I wonder if the Senator would allow secular historical figures of past history the same luxury, such as Roman emperor Caligula, Blackbeard or Billy the Kid.

Most likely he would follow the title of writer Nate Hentoff’s book from years ago, aptly entitled: Free Speech For Me: But Not For Thee.

That is a typical liberal idea–do as we say, not as we do.

But for argument’s sake, should not the important idea of freedom of conscience apply to say–Adolph Hitler?

Why should Senator Durbin and his fellow Catholics deny their prized freedom to a fellow Catholic, like Hitler?

I have read a great deal about Hitler and his personal motivations and his desire to resurrect Germany after its near destruction in World War I.

Hitler thought Germany had been sold out by the Dolchstoss or stab in the back.

I think it fair to assume that Hitler’s conscience told him that the best way to restore Germany to its past national glory was to rid his country of all the inferior races, cultures, and defective human beings, whom he classified as Untermenschen, a sort of underclass, he deemed unfit to live.

The term he used was Lebens unwertes leben-—life unworthy of life.

ANOTHER MAN’S CONSCIENCE

This is is the same rationale we have been fed since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

We have been told that the fetus is not human and is not worthy to see the light of day.

We could play this same scenario with Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and many others who have had the blood of millions on their hands.

If Mr. Durbin wants to use such a term of relativity–that is where  there are no absolutes, then I am free to extend his idea to all others who might also find room in his bark.

This would make the Senator a commissar in the dictatorship of relativity.

He will deny any such comparisons, in the spirit of Hentoff”s book title above.

But that is what I would expect him or any other liberal worth his salt to do.  Like the scorpion, it is in their nature.

I suggest the Senator find a new boat because his current vessel holds as much water as his reliance on his freedom of conscience.

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